2009's greatest hits con't

Aside from my leave, the single biggest event in my life was Andrew's diagnosis of autism. From time to time, I still feel overwhelmed at the whole prospect of have a special needs child - even one who is categorized as mildly autistic.

When we started on this journey, Andrew was really struggling in school. He played almost exclusively with the parapro aligned to him. He still played exclusively in parallel with his peers as opposed to with them. He had never spontaneously told me that he loved me.

So much has changed since June. He actively plays with the other boys at daycare. He shares and verbally interacts, albeit in a limited manner. School is still a bit of a struggle, at least socially. He is, however, in a large class - 34 little bodies. He often zones out and can't focus when there is too much activity happening around him.

He still struggles with eye contact. I'm quite certain that making eye contact will be a long term project for Andrew. He also continues to be obsessed with pinching my thighs and arms and .... That is a behavior that has to cease before he gets too big and someone clocks him one.

Verbally he has just soared. He will sometimes tell me he loves me, especially when he wants to to stay and "sleep" with him. We provide him with a concrete script for social situations and he seems to really appreciate it. If he has enough practice with these scripts, they become part of his routine and he is often able to use them without prompting from momma.

Naturally, I still worry about my baby. Many situations will simply be more complicated for him to maneuver on his own. It seems as though we will always have to practice before entering new situations and practice often. That's okay, though. We just keep plugging away and he gets a little better and little more independent everyday.